Kristie J’s review of Hate Notes by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward
Contemporary Romance published by Montlake 6 Nov 18
With a couple of exceptions, I’ve loved the collaboration between these two authors and this book firms up that love. I adored it.
The book opens with Charlotte trying to sell her never-been-used wedding dress. See, she caught her fiancé cheating on her and, of course, she ended the engagement. Trouble is, she also worked with/for him and felt she had to quit her job, because it would have been quite uncomfortable had she stayed. She needs the money and doesn’t really care for the dress, so she’s at a second-hand store trying to sell the designer item. But all bets are off when she happens to spy a gorgeous dress and finds sewn into it the most romantic love note imaginable. So, instead, she just exchanges dresses.
Not long after she finds out on Facebook that her cheating ex is now engaged to someone else – and she does what any other woman might do in such a situation – she gets drunk on cheap wine. And while tipsy she googles the writer of the wedding dress love note and discovers a few things about him. He sells high-end property and because she’s drunk as a skunk, she sets up a time to have him show her a piece of property, not even remembering until the next day when the appointment is confirmed. She decides to go anyway and discovers, much to her sadness, that the real Reed Eastwood isn’t at all like she built him up in her mind and is, in fact, a complete jerk.
She runs off, has a complete breakdown in the public washroom and unloads all her sadness on a sympathetic older woman, who listens and commiserates and then hires Charlotte on a hunch. Imagine Charlotte’s dismay, though, when she finds out the sympathetic older woman is Reed’s grandmother and she’s been hired to work with Reed, the jerk.
These two characters are darned near perfect. Reed’s heart was broken and he has good reason for the personality transplant, and I dare anyone not to fall for Charlotte. Though Reed is still a jerk to her for a while, she’s more than capable of standing up to him and knocking him off his high horse. In one delightful scene, she’s sitting at her desk when he comes in, standing in front of her with attitude. Rather than just sitting there, she gets up on her chair so she is towering over him. You simply have to love a heroine who thinks to take this kind of action. And what she puts down as her occupation while in the throes of alcohol is hilarious. She’s just so dang adorable.
It doesn’t take Reed long to realize that Charlotte is, in fact, quite a treasure and they slowly become friends who are wildly attracted to each other. But Reed refuses again and again to act on this attraction, and since Charlotte has no trouble going after what she wants – and she wants Reed – some of it is sad as she experiences rejection again like she did when she went through it with her ex.
But this is a romance, so one can guess that Reed has an epiphany and realizes that with Charlotte he is once again the person he is meant to be.
When these two authors get together to write something good, they write something very good. And I know I’m going to be reading this one again, because I raced through it, unable to put it down.
Grade: B+
Summary:
It all started with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.
Something blue.
I’d gone to sell my own unworn bridal gown at a vintage clothing store. That’s when I found another bride’s “something old.”
Stitched into the lining of a fabulously feathered design was the loveliest message I’d ever read: Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.
The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood, obviously the most romantic man who ever lived. I also discovered he’s the most gorgeous. If only my true-love fantasies had stopped there. Because I’ve since found out something else about Mr. Starry-Eyed.
He’s arrogant, cynical, and demanding. I should know. Thanks to a twist of fate, he’s my new boss. But that’s not going to stop me from discovering the story behind his last love letter. A love letter that did not result in a happily ever after.
But that story is nothing compared to the one unfolding between us. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than anything I could have imagined.
Something new.
But I have no idea how this one is going to end…
No excerpt available.
